Health ministry to inspect all 'advanced treatment hospitals'

I am basically terrified by Japanese doctors and hospitals. Way too many shocking experiences.

Readers, please stay on topic. The U.S. is not relevant to this discussion.

Ajam: In the USA the "ask your doctor" ads I think indicate that doctors are not quite so "tied" to certain companies, and that big phama wants patients to proactively ask for meds themselves.

In Japan, I know people who have worked as salesmen for pharmaceutical companies. Their job is to literally sit around in hospital waiting rooms all day long and sell directly to doctors, offering them all kinds of incentives to write prescriptions.

And I too have been talked out of a minor surgical procedure by a good doctor here in Japan, so I've seen both sides.

Everything in Japan is after the fact, there seems to be no checking or valid approval processes

descendent,

pharma connection though is not Japan specific. Or do you believe more so? Just curious. I am in the middle of a 'medical culture' situation here. I am not seeing the comparative pharm push (per tv spots, "just ask your doctor!" as prevalent in the USA. I do see the labels though. And they are paper thin. But yes, I did have the experience (though it did not go there) of my internal med guy sending me up to the surgeon with the caveat that the surgeon was very 'pro-procedure'. I do not know what that could mean, and again, it did not go that way after a biopsy.

Japanese doctors are money-driven. Just look at the cozy ties with pharmaceutical companies (they get commissions for writing prescriptions, which explains why so many just want to write a prescription or five and move to the next patient, or downright refuse to write prescriptions for a brand you want (e.g. for birth control pills)) and also their willingness to immediately recommend surgery, which is yet another cash-cow.

Sure this is a sweeping generalization, and sure there are good doctors, but they're the exception.

The second paragraph (per the writer's perception, though true) is troubling, if this is the entire focus and medical culture surrounding these places.

If the paragraph read:

The status allows hospitals to conduct advanced medical procedures, providing hundreds of patients with breaking medical options and specialized care.

But no. It does not say that. "Advance Treatment" is coming across to me the same as the term "scientific research" comes across in the whaling sector.

Japan loves its labels. Just give us our label. Keep it vague. We'll sort it out later.

Perhaps I like this writer. He called called Advance Treatment for what it is. Yen.

A little too late, no? I guess better late than never which is a real possibility here.